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We use administrative panel data from seven states covering nearly 3 million students to document and explore variation in "academic mobility," a term we use to describe the extent to which students' ranks in the distribution of academic performance change during their public schooling careers. On average, we show that student ranks are highly persistent during elementary and secondary education--that is, academic mobility is limited in U.S. schools as a whole. Still, there is non-negligible variation in the degree of upward mobility across some student subgroups as well as individual school districts. On average, districts that exhibit the greatest upward academic mobility serve more socioeconomically advantaged populations and have higher value-added to student achievement.

There is empirical evidence of substantial heterogeneity in economic mobility across geographic areas and the efficacy of schools has been suggested as an explanatory factor. Using administrative microdata from seven states covering nearly 3 million students, we explore the potential role of schools in promoting economic mobility by estimating cross-district variation in "academic mobility"--a term we use to describe the extent to which students' ranks in the distribution of academic performance change during their schooling careers. We show that there exists considerable heterogeneity in academic mobility across school districts. However, after aggregating our district-level measures of academic mobility to the commuting-zone level and merging them with geographically matched external estimates of economic mobility, we find little scope for geographic differences in academic mobility to meaningfully account for differences in economic mobility.

In the United States, the prevailing high school mathematics course sequence begins with a year of Algebra I, followed by a year of geometry and a year of Algebra II. Educators and others have raised concerns about the extent to which this sequence, which prioritizes the mastery of algebra, is appropriate for the longer-term education and career goals of students who do not intend to pursue STEM degrees in college. These concerns have impelled educators and policymakers to reexamine the prominence of algebra in high school mathematics curricula and to consider new approaches that provide students with more mathematics course options better aligned with their academic and career goals. In this paper, we explore existing approaches to high school mathematics curricula as well as new developments in the field. To start, we discuss a range of high school mathematics course sequences that are currently offered across the country and look at some of the systemic challenges embedded within the traditional paradigm. Then we explore federal and state changes to the provision of high school mathematics in the early 21st century, which we follow with a look at the influence of postsecondary institutions on high school math curricula. We then introduce short case studies of innovative high school math reforms that are occurring in five states. We conclude the paper by considering the Charles A. Dana Center's new initiative, Launch Years, and how this project works to reimagine high school mathematics and its relationship to postsecondary education and careers.

College students who are parents or caregivers of dependent children make up more than one in five U.S. undergraduates. Colleges need basic information about the experiences and outcomes of the student parents they serve, since these students face distinct challenges, including high rates of economic insecurity and significant time and caregiving demands that can affect their educational outcomes (Institute for Women's Policy Research and Ascend at the Aspen Institute 2019). This briefing paper discusses why data on student parents are critical to increasing equity in college outcomes, and reviews existing and potential new data sources on undergraduate college students with children. It also provides recommendations for improving data collection efforts around parent status, including examples of how these data can be collected by institutions of higher education.

This topic paper details how dual and concurrent enrollment programs can help states overcome workforce readiness and postsecondary access and completion challenges and how governors can strengthen these programs by using their bully pulpit, agenda setting authority and budgetary authority to do so. It concludes with a number of examples of how governors are acting to strengthen equity and access to these programs. It also includes a number of resources for interested policy makers.

Children's academic and social development before third grade is highly predictive of later success in school and beyond. Research shows that during those early years, the gains children make in language and literacy, mathematics and social skills, and their growth as learners and thinkers are associated with a range of benefits, from academic achievement to economic stability to healthy habits and behaviors. "The Untapped Potential of an Early Childhood Assessment System: A Strategy for Improving Policies and Instruction from Early Childhood through 3rd Grade" outlines how state leaders can reduce or streamline the assessments being used in early learning programs and elementary schools, achieve economies of scale for educator training and leverage existing data systems to yield more powerful data to inform decision-making.

Advanced information, communication, computation and collaboration technologies, known as "cyberinfrastructure," have become essential elements for research, education, and innovation in the 21st century. A major challenge confronting the United States today is how to ensure that all colleges and universities, including those that have not traditionally benefited from leading-edge research infrastructure, can participate seamlessly in national and multinational cyberinfrastructure-enabled efforts. The minority-serving-institution community has unique expertise, knowledge, and resources to share. Western leaders from the fields of science, education and cyberinfrastructure recognize an urgent need for action. Participants in the 2006 "Lariat Summit on Minority Institutions and Cyberinfrastructure in the West" gathered in Bozeman, Montana to develop strategies and recommendations for connecting minority-serving institutions in the West to national advanced cyberinfrastructure. This document is a first step towards developing both the will and the resources to ensure that minority-serving institutions are among the "connected" institutions in the Western states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, and Washington. (Contains 2 figures and 11 endnotes.) [Financial support for this white paper was provided by the University of Washington, Internet2, and the Pacific Northwest Gigapop.]

Due to data limitations, very little is known about patterns of teacher cross-state mobility. The issue is important because barriers to cross-state mobility create labor market frictions that could lead both current and prospective teachers to opt out of the teaching profession. For this paper, we match state-level administrative data sets from Oregon and Washington and present evidence on patterns of in-service teacher mobility between these two states. We find levels of cross-state mobility that are drastically lower than levels of within-state mobility, even when accounting for proximity to the border. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that there are significant penalties to cross-state mobility that may be attributable to state-specific licensure regulations, seniority rules and pension structures.

The education system of the United States is not adequately preparing a large proportion of its students for college, career-training, and, ultimately, jobs that provide enough income to support a middle class standard of living. Because the education system has failed to attain hoped-for outcomes, some states are investigating new systems, including competency-based education (CBE). A model based on CBE starts by assessing what a student knows and then allows that student to advance at a pace that reflects his or her knowledge and skills. In the process, CBE encourages student success by providing targeted learning support, thereby creating a more personalized educational experience. Once in higher education or job training, CBE allows older students (traditional-age college students or adult learners) to learn on their own time at their own pace. As competency-based pilot projects are developed in kindergarten to high school classrooms and schools (K-12) and higher education institutions, policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels are discussing options about how to support and expand CBE in both K-12 and higher education, as well as strengthen the bridge between the two systems. CBE has the potential to improve the education system of the United States by allowing more students to receive the support they need when they need it to learn effectively and master the desired content and skills, and governors are in a position to bring these efforts together and explore the transition from an education system that holds time constant and varies what students learn to a CBE system that varies time but holds content mastery constant. The promise of such a system is that it can adjust the methods of instruction and assistance to provide deeper, more personalized learning and help ensure that all students meet or exceed the high expectations of rigorous and relevant standards.

Pension legacy costs can restrict the amount of resources available for current public education, potentially making it more difficult to attract and retain high-quality teachers. Oregon provides a useful case study in pension legacy costs because many school districts in the state are now reallocating General Fund expenditures to cover sizeable past pension promises. In this "Issue Brief," we describe how Oregon's past pension promises, compared with nearby Washington's, are affecting the level of resources available to compensate new teachers. We then assess potential impacts by examining how new teacher turnover differs in districts along the Oregon-Washington border and within Oregon across school districts. We find early career quit rates in school districts on the Oregon side of the Oregon-Washington border have exceeded those on the Washington side in recent years, and overall teacher experience on the Oregon side has fallen below that on the Washington side. Further, using district-level variation within Oregon, we find early career quit propensities are positively associated with the percentage of General Fund revenues allocated to Oregon's Public Employees Retirement System expenditures. These findings are consistent with the notion that Oregon's pension legacy costs are negatively impacting teacher retention.

Oregon's Tier One Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) covered members prior to January 1, 1996. This "Issue Brief" documents the generosity of the money match provision under Oregon's Tier One plan relative to the Tier One defined-benefit formula, and relative to other plans in Oregon and Washington and to representative plans nationally. We then examine the extent to which Oregon's pension system impacted its K12 workforce, as greater pension generosity could incentivize longer tenures. In the case of Oregon's money match provision, however, the true magnitude of its generosity was largely unknown to teachers until just prior to retirement. As such, any economic incentives to promote longer tenure among midcareer teachers may have been muted, while the plan's generosity, once apparent just prior to retirement, created strong wealth effects that may have enabled earlier K12 exits. We find evidence for both of these outcomes. Midcareer quit rates in Oregon were unremarkable based on an analysis of teacher work histories in Oregon from 2000 to 2013. Further, based on an analysis of 8,621 teachers in Oregon who were aged 50 and older in 2000, our findings suggest that the generosity of Oregon's Tier One money match encouraged earlier departures from the K12 workforce, with teachers leaving, on average, one year earlier than what would have been expected under Oregon's defined-benefit plan formula. These findings suggest that pension generosity alone does not incentivize longer tenure--even in the extreme case of Oregon--as the true generosity of a plan must be known to employees throughout their careers to impact midcareer work decisions.

Barriers to the cross-state mobility of the teacher workforce can have undesirable effects on the teacher workforce and student outcomes. While a large literature addresses issues related to within-state mobility, very little is known about patterns of cross-state mobility. This paper addresses that research gap. We describe features of Oregon's and Washington's teacher labor markets that impose barriers to mobility and use state administrative data sets to identify teachers who have crossed the state border. Large disparities between levels of within-state and cross-state mobility are evidence of significant barriers to mobility between Oregon and Washington. In fact, teachers are over four times more likely to undertake a "within-state" move of 250 or more miles than they are to undertake a cross-state move of any distance. Even teachers employed in a district on the state border are at least as likely to move 225 or more miles within their state as they are to move across the border. Observed patterns of cross-state mobility are consistent with some of the variation in costs imposed by licensure procedures, seniority rules, and pension structures. In particular, less experienced teachers are significantly more mobile. However, we observe a similar pattern in regard to within-state mobility, suggesting that fewer experienced teachers cross state borders because they are less mobile in general, and not necessarily because they face higher costs to cross-state mobility in particular. More nuanced analyses is required to better understand the mechanisms driving low rates of cross-state mobility. Appendices provide a supplemental figure and a discussion on pension wealth in Oregon and Washington.

Barriers to the cross-state mobility of the teacher workforce can have undesirable effects on the teacher workforce and student outcomes. While a large literature addresses issues related to within-state mobility, very little is known about patterns of cross-state mobility. This paper addresses that research gap. We describe features of Oregon's and Washington's teacher labor markets that impose barriers to mobility and use state administrative data sets to identify teachers who have crossed the state border. Large disparities between levels of within-state and cross-state mobility are evidence of significant barriers to mobility between Oregon and Washington. In fact, teachers are over four times more likely to undertake a within-state move of 250 or more miles than they are to undertake a cross-state move of any distance. Even teachers employed in a district on the state border are at least as likely to move 225 or more miles within their state as they are to move across the border. Observed patterns of cross-state mobility are consistent with some of the variation in costs imposed by licensure procedures, seniority rules, and pension structures. In particular, less experienced teachers are significantly more mobile. However, we observe a similar pattern in regard to "within"-state mobility, suggesting that fewer experienced teachers cross state borders because they are less mobile in general, and not necessarily because they face higher costs to cross-state mobility in particular. More nuanced analyses is required to better understand the mechanisms driving low rates of cross-state mobility. Two appendices provide: (1) Entry Level Salaries for Teachers with a Bachelor's Degree (2013) [figure]; and (2) Pension Wealth in Oregon and Washington.

What are the relationships between policy and evaluation within state departments of education? How does policy influence what is evaluated in such settings and how does evaluation inform policymaking? Directors of evaluation in six state education agencies address these issues through detailed descriptions of their operations: Gordon Ascher, Oregon; Gerald Bracey, Virginia; David L. Donovan, and Stanley A. Rumbaugh, Michigan; James H. Gold, Wisconsin; Alfred Rasp, Jr., Washington; and Paul D. Sandifer, South Carolina. An educational philosopher specializing in policy analysis, Thomas F. Green, then provides a commentary on the preceding six papers. (Author/BW)

State postsecondary education data systems are vital assets for policymakers, researchers, and the public. The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association's (SHEEO) Communities of Practice project builds upon SHEEO's efforts to measure the capacity and effective use of state postsecondary data systems and provides states with opportunities to develop solutions to common system issues. The seventh Community of Practice convening, "Improving Equity and Opportunity through Postsecondary Data," was held September 28-29, 2022, in Denver, Colorado. The two-day meeting included more than 80 representatives from 17 states: Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, and the District of Columbia. Teams included representatives from SHEEO agency academic affairs, workforce, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and research and data offices and their partners at state agencies and two- and four-year postsecondary institutions. Given the recent impacts on higher education from the COVID-19 pandemic, social justice unrest, and economic pressures facing the country, a focus on equity and opportunity was timely for this Community of Practice. SHEEO agency staff communicated a need to inform state attainment and economic goals through improved collection and use of postsecondary student unit record data. Within and across state teams, Community of Practice attendees were able to learn more about the nuances and impacts of equity-and opportunity-focused data collection, disaggregation, and visualization; to better understand how to effectively communicate and illustrate the need for and the contributions of equitable student success in their states; and to reflect on their capacity, partnerships, and resources available to effectively engage in this work. In this paper, SHEEO shares the presentations, resources, and team activities from the convening. This information can be used by SHEEO agencies to reflect on their current practices, plan and develop effective data policies, and better use data to improve postsecondary equity and opportunity outcomes in their states.

In their 2004 State of the State speeches, the nation's governors cited many issues competing for their attention and their states' resources, including health care, education, crime, and security (Nodine 2004). Among the most compelling challenges were those related to economic development and the ability of a state's workforce to meet the needs of growing, high-wage industries. In response to these needs, states have been exploring a variety of strategies to increase economic vitality by building the educational and technical skills of the workforce. To support and fund these strategies, they have created a variety of policies, which have met with varying degrees of success. State officials might well look to their peers for new ideas about how to seek advantage and opportunity in an era of increased need and tight budgets. In this report, "Building Skills, Increasing Economic Vitality," the authors highlight some of the most promising and exciting developments in state workforce and skill development policy, particularly in four areas of policy innovation: (1) Redesigning financing for workforce development; (2) Strengthening Workforce Development/Economic Development Linkages; (3) Building the Capacity of New Labor Market Institutions; and (4) Expanding Community College Capacity. The states highlighted in this report (California, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington) have enacted workforce development policies that are not only innovative but also have the potential to be replicated elsewhere. In this handbook for policymakers and practitioners, Jobs for the Future showcases the range of policies and approaches that states have taken and their successes in meeting ambitious goals. These approaches are not necessarily easy to implement; in fact, most states have faced significant challenges to moving ideas to adoption and implementation. What has pushed the policies along have been powerful drivers for change as well as creative solutions to making change possible. Case studies are appended.

Surging demand for workers, growing income inequality, and passage of welfare reforms have made work force development one of the United States' key national concerns. Public/Private Ventures has been working with various states to design work force development strategies that seek to address the concerns of many work force development specialists who believe that, on its own, the "work first" approach to work force development is unlikely to further reduce individuals' reliance on public assistance and to solve businesses' problem of finding enough qualified workers. The strategies, which have been deemed the State Workforce Policy Initiative, focus on the following key program elements: enabling workers to gain the skills needed to support themselves and their families; engaging employers in designing and implementing programs; and developing effective ways to provide employment retention assistance to workers as they move from welfare into the labor force. (Approximately two-thirds of this document is devoted to profiles of efforts to implement the initiative in Colorado, Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Washington. Each profile contains the following components: an overview of the state's economic and labor market context; a description of efforts to implement the initiative; and implications of the state's efforts.) (MN)

Compiled from papers written by project linkers after they spent two and one-half years working with schools, this report describes the Northwest Reading Consortium, a program linking schools in Washington, Idaho, Alaska, and Oregon with research and development (R&D) resources for improving reading instruction. The function of the linking agents was to help schools identify needs for improvement and select new programs. The report describes linkers' experiences using the R&D knowledge base, and helping schools identify problem areas, select appropriate R&D programs, and plan program implementation. The appendix includes a chart depicting the basic instructional planning process, and a five-page description of how the project developed and used a knowledge base of information about R&D based reading programs. (Author/JM)

What happens when teams from 57 cities building afterschool systems gather to discuss two key system responsibilities--improving afterschool programs and using data for informed decision-making? Lots of rich discussion. This report covers a national afterschool conference held in February 2013. It details what mayors, program providers, system leaders, researchers and others had to say on matters ranging from how to measure afterschool performance to how to boost program quality. [This conference was organized by: American Youth Policy Forum, The Collaborative for Building After School Systems, The Forum for Youth Investment, the National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education & Families, and the Wallace Foundation.]

The United States leads the world in the number of incarcerated persons per 100,000. In today's global economy, these numbers represent huge wastes in human capital, especially when you consider the inequitable nature of the American criminal justice system, as witnessed by the disproportionate racial and ethnic composition, types of crimes, and length of prison sentences represented within this population. Regardless of the pathway to prison, most incarcerated people will eventually return to the communities from which they came, so one of the important questions may be, how does society want them to show up? Broken or made whole? Angry or hopeful? Employable or unemployable? Role model or counterexample? The essence of this paper is linked to a favored quote by the late Nelson Mandela, who said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." These words are as profound today as they were in 1990 when he addressed an audience of Boston high school students. Furthermore, education in America remains one of the best investments individuals and governments can make, which should include investment in prison-based education programs. These types of efforts are cost-effective, reduce recidivism, improve employment prospects, increase civic engagement, and can disrupt generational poverty. Despite Second Chance Pell programs and other evidence supporting the multilayered value of postsecondary (coursework beyond high school) education for incarcerated populations, barriers and challenges persist. Fortunately, leaders of state agencies and systems of higher education are increasingly exploring the feasibility of these programs for their states. This paper presents preliminary findings from a survey SHEEO administered to its members in 2018. It advocates for postsecondary education for incarcerated persons as a relevant policy issue at federal and state levels in current political environments. Key findings and recommendations were informed by responses from 38 percent of SHEEO's membership. States responding to the survey were Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming. Non-member organizations included Truckee Meadows Community College (NV); University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Bismarck State College (ND); and the Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges. The paper is organized around three main categories: access, program delivery, and reentry of program participants into society, with the following key performance indicators.

In order to build an inclusive economy State leaders have recognized the critical importance of postsecondary attainment in meeting economic and equity goals. Nearly every state has, or is considering a postsecondary education attainment goal, which sets a threshold for the number of people within that state who hold some type of postsecondary credential at 55 percent or higher. These goals can drive policies that help more individuals attain postsecondary degrees and credentials that attract business and lead residents to good jobs. States are increasingly recognizing that they will be unable to achieve these goals without focusing on student populations that have traditionally been underserved by higher education and other training strategies. Thirty states have set goals to close racial equity gaps or increase attainment for people of color, and a number of states have developed policies to expand access to degrees and credentials for adult learners and other non-traditional students. Non-degree credentials (NDCs), such as certificates, industry certifications, apprenticeship certificates, and occupational licenses are a key component of state credential attainment goals, helping workers obtain better jobs and serving to reconnect them to further postsecondary education and training opportunities. NDCs are already a significant part of the education and training landscape. Quality assurance is particularly important given the role that NDCs play in providing opportunities for people of color and other underrepresented groups who have been historically underserved by postsecondary education and training. In this paper, National Skills Coalition (NSC) lays out the importance of building robust quality assurance systems for NDCs. The paper proposes a consensus definition of quality NDCs and criteria developed in consultation with twelve leading states, that states can adopt for their own quality assurance systems. These criteria should allow policymakers to be comfortable supporting these programs with public funds, students to be confident about selecting high-quality training, and employers to understand which programs are effectively preparing students for careers. The quality NDC criteria can also help states address racial and other equity gaps by providing more pathways into quality postsecondary education and training and good jobs for people of color. In conclusion, NSC provides a range of policy recommendations for states to consider to support increased attainment of quality NDCs.

This paper outlines current trends, progress, and possibilities for fostering more authentic ways to assess students' competencies and mastery of skills needed for college, work, and civic life in the 21st century. It provides an introduction to performance assessments and their value. The authors highlight efforts to develop such assessments in k-12 districts, public high school networks, and independent schools, and they explore state and local policies that are bolstering such practices. This paper examines emerging higher education efforts to go beyond standardized tests in college admission, placement, and advising. It explores the opportunities and challenges associated with greater inclusion of performance assessments in college admission, placement, and advising. The authors identify steps that can build on the progress already made and help performance assessments be high quality, rigorous, and better known in the field. [For the research brief, see ED606783.]

This is the third paper on the topic of outcomes-based funding written by Dennis Jones for Complete College America. The first paper, "Performance Funding: From Idea to Action" (ED535356), proposed a set of design and implementation principles to help states develop and implement their own outcomes-based funding models. The second paper, "Outcomes-Based Funding: The Wave of Implementation" (2013) described features of models being implemented in states and the extent to which they conformed to the principles presented in the first paper. This third paper documents the continued spread of adoption with an increased focus in the field on whether outcomes are equitable across populations, with states disaggregating results by race, ethnicity, age and income and reporting those publicly. The additional purposes of this paper are threefold: (1) To reinforce the point that outcomes-based funding is but one component of the overall financing model for higher education in a state. The power of outcomes-based funding models is enhanced if the other components are designed so as to strengthen the alignment between funding streams and desired results; (2) To once again revisit the lists of design and implementation principles presented in the earlier document and (slightly) revise them in light of states' actions and experience; and (3) To describe the models that are being employed in implementing states and to assess the extent of conformance with the proffered set of design and implementation principles. This for the purpose of identifying areas of non-conformance to catalog potential weaknesses in models and questioning the applicability of certain of the principles. As with earlier versions of the document, the ultimate objective is to provide clear, straightforward guidance to policymakers who are searching for ways to better align their approaches to resource allocation with the educational outcomes that are of highest priority in their state.

A significant movement is underway across the nation to design K-12 assessment systems that better equip stakeholders to provide an equitable and excellent education to each child. While some of these innovations emerged before the pandemic, the massive disruption to instruction fueled a new urgency to rethink the potential of assessments to drive better teaching and learning. States and communities are working together to create more balanced systems of assessment that better support instruction while still providing the information necessary to inform policy and resource decisions. There is much to learn from the ideas emerging across the nation--particularly where states are trying to innovate despite limitations of federal policy. The insights and innovations emerging from this paper have the potential to cast a new vision for K-12 assessment in the United States. This work details efforts across the nation to encourage, support and grow innovative state assessment systems, and represents a significant increase in recent state-level energy and action around new forms of assessment to provide deeper and more meaningful understanding of student learning. [Additional producers of this report are Center for Innovation in Education (C!E), Envision Learning Partners, and the Great Schools Partnership.]

Due to data limitations, very little is known about patterns of cross-state teacher mobility. It is an important issue because barriers to cross-state mobility create labor market frictions that could lead both current and prospective teachers to opt out of the teaching profession. In this paper, we match state-level administrative data sets from Oregon and Washington and present evidence on patterns of in-service teacher mobility between these two states. We find levels of cross-state mobility that are drastically lower than levels of within-state mobility, even when accounting for proximity to the border. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that there are significant penalties to cross-state mobility that may be attributable to state-specific licensure regulations, seniority rules and pension structures. [This paper was published in "Educational Researcher" v44 n8 p421-431 2015 (EJ1082062).]

Across the United States, communities are thinking differently about how to transform their schools and neighborhoods. There is tremendous excitement about strategies that weave together resources in a clearly defined "place" to collectively improve outcomes for children, youth, families, and communities. The paper explores the relationship between various place-based strategies and the potential associated with the alignment of these strategies operating within the same geographic areas. The paper demonstrates that community schools offer a powerful vision and strategy for what schools should look like within broader place based initiatives and how community schools can benefit from alignment with other efforts. [The paper was also co-published by PolicyLink and the West Coast Collaborative.]

"Accelerating Opportunity" responds to the nation's growing need for improved pathways from Adult Basic Education (ABE) to credentials of value in the labor market. It builds on promising practices developed in "Breaking Through," an initiative of Jobs for the Future and the National Council for Workforce Education, and Washington State's Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST). "Accelerating Opportunity" will take those proven practices to statewide scale. The initiative consists of two phases: (1) The design phase began in March 2011. Eleven states (Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin) have received funding to redesign the pathways between ABE and postsecondary education and training; (2) The three-year implementation phase begins at the end of the design phase, in December 2011. Five design phase states will be selected to receive three years of funding to implement "Accelerating Opportunity" pathways in at least eight colleges, with the goal of improving outcomes for at least 3,600 students per state. Non-funded states will be part of a growing affiliate network of states committed to developing integrated pathways for low-skilled adults. These states will continue to be active participants in peer learning events. This paper highlights the policy-based, systemic, and programmatic barriers to student success; and how "Accelerating Opportunity" is structured to address them, enabling many more adults to succeed in their quest for postsecondary credentials. Appended are: (1) The Leadership Team; and (2) For Further Reading. [Funding for this paper was also provided by the Open Society Foundations.]

The National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL), an organization dedicated to redesigning and expanding school time to improve opportunities and outcomes for high poverty students, and the Education Commission of the States (ECS), with a mission to foster both the exchange of ideas on education issues among the states and long range strategic thinking, have joined forces to produce this review. Their goal is to help education leaders to better understand the complexities of time related policy and its far reaching educational implications. In exploring how policymakers and educators have dealt with the matter of school time at the federal, state, and local levels, NCTL and ECS hope to accelerate the national conversation on how they can best leverage the power of time to realize the vision of a high quality education for all. This paper offers a number of recommendations highlighting fresh ways that policy and research can best support efforts to expand learning time in schools. State policies on instructional time are appended. (Contains 82 notes and 51 footnotes.) [This paper was supported by The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.]

This paper examines the graduation/dropout crisis among American Indian and Alaska Native students using data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Data from 2005 is drawn from the seven states with the highest percentage of American Indian and Alaska Native students as well as five states in the Pacific and Northwestern regions of the United States. Findings indicate that the number of American Indians and Alaska Natives who graduate continues to be a matter of urgent concern. On average, less than 50% of Native students in these twelve states graduate each year. (Contains 8 tables, 1 figure, and 22 footnotes.) [This paper was produced by the Center for the Study of Leadership in American Indian Education at the Pennsylvania State University.]

Research led by the Consortium on Chicago Public School Research (University of Chicago) and the Center for Social Organization of Schools (Johns Hopkins University), has identified specific indicators--students' academic characteristics--that provide early signals that students are on a path toward dropping out of high school. Measured at different points in time, typically 6-9th grades, these indicators are used for a variety of purposes from identifying students in need of intervention to school and district accountability ratings. This Evidence-based Education Request summarizes ways that data are being used in schools, districts, and states, and by researchers to identify students at risk for not graduating and/or not achieving career and college readiness. Searches of Wilson Web, EBSCOHost, and the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) were performed to gather this information. To add to their findings, the researchers searched well-known papers on such indicators (e.g., Allensworth & Easton, 2007) as well as the websites of reform support and education research organizations known to do work in this area. Finally, they conducted a Google search in order to identify lesser-known sites using these indicators. Information in this paper is meant to be informative to schools, districts, and states interested in learning from others who are implementing indicators. The list of places implementing indicators is "non-exhaustive and does not represent all the ways indicators can be formulated or implemented." (Contains 4 footnotes.)

The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA), Title II of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-220) requires states to document whether or not adult education service providers are improving the quality of their instructional services. To reward effective providers, a number of states have adopted performance-based funding (PBF) systems that allocate federal and/or state adult education resources based on student and program performance. Early evidence suggests that these new funding systems are helping to hold local providers accountable for their program outcomes, while improving provider effectiveness by focusing instructors' attention on the links among curriculum, instruction, and performance. To prepare for the introduction of PBF in Oregon, the Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development (CCWD) convened a working group in March 2005 to identify the principles, factors, and structures that should drive formula development. Working group members, consisting of state administrators and local program directors, proposed a comprehensive set of indicators and factors that should be considered when distributing Title II funding. Members also recommended that the state hire a policy analyst to synthesize group findings and provide evidence-based research to identify the most effective and efficient factors for inclusion in the formula. This paper summarizes the key issues that working group members should consider as they develop the new state formula. The paper opens with an overview of Oregon's current state and federal formulas for distributing adult education resources, followed by a discussion of important formula components. Recommendations from the 2005 working group are included throughout the paper to illustrate the approaches formula development may take. Appended are Selected States' Adult Education Funding Systems for: (1) California; (2) Kansas; (3) Indiana; (4) Missouri; and (5) Washington. (Contains 1 figure, 3 tables, and 4 footnotes.) [This paper was prepared for the Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development.]

This brief is based on the 61-page report of the same name. This paper, commissioned by the Brookings Institution, studies the emergence of the mixed delivery model, in which pre-kindergarten is delivered in community-based settings and schools. It describes findings of a state survey CLASP conducted to understand the policy choices, opportunities, and challenges of including community-based child care providers in pre-kindergarten programs. At the conclusion of the study period for this paper (November 2004), at least 29 states that are currently operating at least one pre-kindergarten program using a mixed delivery approach were found. Those states are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Other states, for example Florida, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, are considering or expanding pre-kindergarten policies but were not yet established enough to be included in our study. This policy brief describes principal approaches to state implementation of the mixed delivery model but does not provide examples of state policies. (Contains 1 figure.)

Promise programs (also known as free college programs) have grown in popularity over the last few years. When targeted correctly, these programs have the potential to increase enrollment, retention, and graduation rates for underserved students. By focusing a promise program on adult students and including additional supports and services, states can connect with nontraditional students who previously believed college was not an option. However, the message of a promise program is strong and should not be misused. This paper helps to define the concept of a promise program for adults, discusses the value proposition of a promise, provides an overview of current and proposed promise programs, and outlines critical considerations for states considering an adult promise program. An Adult Promise Program is more than just a financial commitment to provide free tuition and fees to adults. The political viability of promise programs makes them an excellent vehicle for delivering additional supports and services to adult learners, who are currently underserved in higher education.

While most community and technical colleges individually offer courses by distance learning, they are increasingly challenged to provide the full range of instructional and student support services needed for expanding distance education programs. To address this issue, Washington and Oregon community and technical colleges formed distance education consortia to leverage individual college investments and faculty expertise to provide unserved and underserved students with low-cost, quality educational opportunities that surmount time and place barriers. This paper provides background information on consortial efforts in Oregon and Washington, including the Oregon Community College Distance Education Consortium (OCCDEC), the Washington Distance Learning Council of the Instruction Commission, and the Northwest Telecommunications Network (NWTN). Tables of 1997-1998 Oregon community colleges distance learning enrollment data and 1996-1997 Washington community and technical colleges distance learning enrollment data are provided. Current initiatives, including adoption of the Strategic Plan of the Oregon Community Colleges for Distance Learning and formation of the Washington Online Consortium (WAOL) are summarized. Other topics include related consortia and sustainability of the consortia. (DLS)

Effective strategies for developing early childhood centers in public schools are discussed in this paper, which draws from a research-based literature search and intensive case studies of six Northwest sites. The sites represent a range of rural, suburban, and urban programs; large and small schools; and a variety of program features. The sites are the: (1) Centennial Early Childhood Center, Portland, Oregon; (2) Mary Harrison Primary School, Toledo, Oregon; (3) Nome Elementary School, Nome, Alaska; (4) Ponderosa Elementary School, Billings, Montana; (5) South Colby Elementary School, Port Orchard, Washington; and (6) Tendoy Elementary School, Pocatello, Idaho. The paper begins by identifying themes, issues, and strategies involved in restructuring public schools around early childhood concerns. Among the themes are these: curriculum as a continuum of knowledge and thinking processes; curriculum content as resulting from a dynamic process that involves input from children, families, and community; children as active learners who make decisions about their learning activities; developmentally appropriate practice as a critical underpinning for program design and implementation; and high expectations for all learners in the diverse classroom. Issues are categorized in terms of school readiness, organizational or resource features, personnel, classrooms, family, communities, transition, comprehensive care, quality control, and administrative concerns. Strategies relating to each issue are described. Contains 38 references. (LB)

This paper identifies approaches, challenges, and best practices related to planning and designing today's academic library learning spaces. As part of the Project Information Literacy (PIL) Practitioner Series, qualitative data is presented from 49 interviews conducted with a sample of academic librarians, architects, and library consultants. These participants were at the forefront of the same 22 recent library learning space projects on college and university campuses in the US and Canada between 2011 and 2016. Most library projects had allocated space for supporting at least one of these four types of academic learning activities: collaborative, individual study, tutoring by campus learning partners, or occasional classes taught by campus instructors. Successful collaboration between the architect and the librarian was fostered by their shared commitment to meeting users' needs, though few stakeholders systematically collected input from users beyond standard usage statistics and gate counts. Most interviewees reported facing some common challenges during their project planning and implementations. One challenge was translating design goals into tangible designs while trying to resolve issues of noise mitigation, shared space allocations, and providing enough electrical power for IT devices. Another challenge was ensuring effective communication practices with planning teams as well as campus-wide constituents throughout projects. Additional challenges included building consensus, compensating for project interruption and inadequate knowledge about both architecture and library IT issues, and having too few a priori evaluation metrics for linking learning outcomes to goals of the library space projects. Taken together, the success of library learning space projects depends upon shared knowledge and understanding of the sweeping learning, pedagogical, and research changes facing the academy. Librarians and architects need to work together to apply that knowledge and understanding to the unique environment and learning and teaching needs of their specific institution. Contains a list of further readings. [Funding from a Strategic Research Grant from the University of Washington Information School helped to make this report possible.]

Research has shown principal support to be a critical variable for implementing and sustaining evidence-based practices. However, there remains little understanding of the factors that may influence a principal's personal decision to support a practice. The purpose of the current study was to examine events that influenced principals' support for a widely-used approach to behavior in schools, school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS). In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 school administrators who self-reported that they were initially opposed to or not supportive of PBIS but became stronger supporters over time. Qualitative analysis using the Enhanced Critical Incident Technique revealed eight helping and three hindering categories of experiences in change in support, as well as two categories of early experiences that they reported might have built their support from the beginning. Implications for enhancing administrator support are provided. [This paper was published in "Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions" (EJ1092466).]

With increasingly widespread calls to raise educational attainment levels without substantially growing public investment in higher education, policymakers and others have devoted growing attention to the role of financial aid programs in providing access to, promoting affordability for, and incentivizing success in college. Given relative levels of investment, most of that focus has been on federal financial aid programs. But for students enrolled in higher education, the vast majority of whom attend public institutions, the impact of federal aid policies is filtered through finance policies enacted at the state level. The wide differences in financing strategies among states mean that states ultimately determine to a great extent how college opportunities are distributed, costs are affordable, and students are successful. This concept paper takes a closer look at state financial aid programs and how they are uniquely well-positioned to address many of the financial challenges in college access, success, and affordability that stand in the way of achieving educational attainment goals. It advances a framework for the distribution of aid that is efficient with scarce public funds, encourages students to make progress and succeed, promotes institutional behaviors that are aligned with public needs and expectations, and integrates state policies with federal and institutional policies and practices. Informed by a set of guiding principles, the paper makes the following policy proposals: (1) States can adopt a Shared Responsibility Model (SRM) as the framework for determining the eligibility for a state grant, as well as the amount of the grant; (2) States can encourage well-designed, state-supported programs to assist students in meeting their student contribution; (3) States can embed demand-side incentives that promote student success; (4) States can embed supply-side incentives that ensure that institutions share in both the risk and rewards of student success; (5) States can leverage grant aid programs to encourage institutional aid expenditures that are aligned with state goals for student success, affordability, transparency, and predictability; (6) The federal government can recommit to its historic partnership with states in promoting well designed grant programs through a contemporary LEAP program; (7) States can ensure that their grant programs include an expectation that standards of academic quality are maintained; and (8) States can require that their financial aid programs are systematically evaluated.

Many U.S. colleges and universities have established student learning outcomes for diversity education in their general education programs. These education goals, frequently developed for assessment or other policy purposes, convey a range of possible purposes for diversity and multicultural learning. The manner in which these purposes are articulated shapes their focus and carries implications for practice. Using a policy discourse analysis methodology, my research explores the articulated goals, and those discourses and subject positions they advance. In particular, I consider the institution-wide diversity education goals from 56 public liberal arts colleges and universities across the United States. I present evidence that dominant discourses of market (including productivity and commodity) and harmony (including community and accumulation) are weakly offset with alternative discourses of social change, conflict, and social construction. These discourses are expressed through policy assumptions and themes at both the individual student and community levels. (Contains 9 policy citations.)